Welsh in Education Strategic Plan Annual Report 2020
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ANNUAL REVIEW REPORT WELSH IN EDUCATION STRATEGIC PLAN DECEMBER 2020 OVERALL SUMMARY Despite the difficulties posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Council has made good progress in terms of its PLAN commitment to developing Welsh-medium education. A school reorganisation proposal to establish a new Welsh-medium primary school has been approved, and work is now underway to ensure that the school is able to open as planned in September 2021. A temporary governing body has been established, and all applications received by the Council for admission to the nursery class in September 2021 were successful. Applications can now be made for places in the Reception year group. Two non-maintained providers were successful in their tender applications to provide Foundation Phase education, and this will assist in meeting the shortfall of Rising 3 nursery places that the Council has faced at times in recent years. Additional Welsh-medium Flying Start and Mudiad Meithrin provisions are planned, and further work on these aspects will progress into 2021. The provision of improved facilities at Ysgol Gyfun Gwent Is Coed is a priority project within the Council’s Band B programme, and work has now commenced on site. This project will result in capital investment of £18.7m. 1 Outcome 1: More seven-year-old children being taught through the medium of Welsh KEY ANNUAL DATA (where possible, please note if data shows a % increase / decrease since previous reporting period) The January 2020 PLASC return confirmed that 103 Year 3 pupils were being taught through the medium of Welsh, an increase from 91 in the previous year. This represents 5.17% of the overall cohort value compared with 4.52% in the previous year. The demand for Welsh-medium education in Newport is increasing, demonstrated by the need to create additional provision for the September 2020 Reception cohort. This additional capacity was possible through the establishment of a 15-place “bubble class” at Ysgol Gymraeg Ifor Hael. In September 2020, 49 children who were previously attending meithrin groups across Newport were eligible to start school, and 29 of these (equivalent to 59%) progressed to Welsh-medium schools. This compares to 39 of 52 children in September 2019 (equivalent to 75%). The reduced transition rate was attributed to a variety of factors, one being the location of Welsh-medium primary schools in comparison to meithrin groups. For example, all of the children attending Cylch Meithrin Brynglas moved on to the co-located Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Teyrnon. However at other settings the transition rate was much lower. Cylch staff have provided parents with information around the benefits of being bilingual and encouraged visits to local Welsh-medium primary schools, however some parents have reported that they chose a Cylch out of convenience rather than language preference. Another family withdrew all their children from Welsh-medium provision in response to an inability to assist with home learning during the Covid-19 pandemic. Traditionally, another problem has been the lack of Rising 3 places in Welsh-medium primary schools. The introduction of two new non-maintained Welsh-medium settings in 2021 should have a positive impact on this. There are currently 5 Cylch Meithrin provisions across Newport – Cylch Meithrin Y Delyn, Cylch Meithrin Brynglas, Cylch Meithrin Dros Yr Enfys (Flying Start), Cylch Meithrin Dewin Disglair (Flying Start) and Cylch Meithrin Chuckles (operated as a session within a day nursery). It is anticipated that an additional Cylch Meithrin will open in Caerleon from January 2021. As of November 2020, there is a weekly average of 11 of the available 19 places being taken up in Cylch Meithrin Brynglas, and 15 of the available 38 places being taken up in Cylch Meithrin Y Delyn. The provision at Cylch Meithrin Chuckles operates within the usual morning nursery session for 2 year olds, and as such, all registered toddlers attending morning sessions access it throughout the week. There are currently 22 children attending a morning place throughout the week. In terms of access to Flying Start provisions, there are currently 14 children allocated to Cylch Meithrin Dros Yr Enfys and 15 allocated to Cylch Meithrin Dewin Disglair. Both Cylch Meithrin Brynglas and Cylch Meithrin Y Delyn were successful in their tender and both settings will be able to offer Foundation Phase Nursery Education from April 2021. A dedicated primary immersion unit was established in September 2019 at Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Teyrnon. During the 2019/20 academic year, 7 pupils accessed the unit, 4 of whom later successfully transitioned to their respective cohort groups. The remaining 3 pupils are still accessing the immersion unit because of delays due to Covid-19. 2 PLANNED ACTIVITIES (please list the intended actions and use the progress/update/pressures section to provide further information) The school reorganisation proposal to establish a new Welsh-medium primary school has been determined and the school will now open in September 2021; Two non-maintained settings have been commissioned to deliver Foundation Phase nursery education from April 2021; A new Cylch Meithrin will open in Caerleon in January 2021; Three new Welsh-medium Flying Start provisions are planned to open across the City. PROGRESS / UPDATE / PRESSURES (please use this section to report on progress made during 2020 as well as highlight where progress has been impacted by Covid- 19) The proposal to establish a new Welsh-medium primary school in Newport was determined in June 2020, and thus work is now underway to ensure that this school is able to open as planned in September 2021. A temporary governing body has now been established, and will work with the Council to organise the arrangements for the new school – including agreeing a name and appointing a Headteacher. The school will be open only to Nursery and Reception pupils in the first year. The admission application window for the nursery class has opened and closed, with five first preference applications received. The admission application window for the Reception class opened in November 2020 and runs until January 2021. As regards the seedling school building, a programme of works from Newport Norse suggests that work will commence on site in February / March 2021, with an anticipated completion date of 2nd July 2021. In March 2020, the Council commissioned two Welsh-medium playgroups to deliver Foundation Phase Nursery education. It was initially planned that this would commence in September 2020, however the restrictions around training and support for new settings because of the Covid-19 pandemic, has meant that delivery of nursery education in these settings has been delayed until April 2021. The settings are receiving virtual training and support. The contract is for a period of four years, with the option to extend for an additional year. Mudiad Meithrin is establishing a new meithrin group in Caerleon from January 2021. This is an area that has historically seen limited demand for Welsh-medium education; however, alongside the establishment of the seedling school it is anticipated that this provision will be well received and that legacy arrangements will continue once the new school moves to its permanent location. The new Flying Start provisions are planned for Pillgwenlly, Bettws and Ringland. The Pillgwenlly project has been delayed by four months because of the Covid-19 pandemic; however, construction is now due to start in February 2021. Completion and formal handover is scheduled for August 2021, and will provide capacity for up to a maximum of 26 children aged 2-3 years or up to a maximum of 31 children aged 3-12 3 years. The Bettws project is due to commence on site in May 2021, with completion scheduled for September 2021, providing capacity for up to a maximum of 29 children aged 2-3 years or up to a maximum of 36 children aged 3-12 years. The Ringland project is at a feasibility stage and is based on an expansion of current provision within the current Ringland hub. The provisions at Pillgwenlly and Bettws will need to be registered with CIW, and this is not likely to commence until after handover. The Flying Start team has already developed excellent relationships with primary schools and robust transition processes are in place. Whilst Covid-19 has complicated this, individual ‘Covid-safe’ arrangements have been put in place with each setting to ensure that the transition process can go ahead. A pilot review of this will be undertaken in the spring term 2021. The Council created a new fixed-term post of Welsh Promotion Officer in early 2020, with an individual commencing in this role in February 2020. Unfortunately, the national lockdown in response to Covid-19 commenced soon after this, and as a result, a large proportion of the planned work could not proceed, specifically around engagement with community groups. However, during this time, the “Being Bilingual” content of the School Admissions literature was reviewed and updated to reflect those questions, queries and concerns received from communities less likely to choose Welsh-medium education (e.g. BAME communities). The updated document also promotes and raises awareness of the benefits of Welsh-medium education to better recognise Newport as a multilingual city and appeal to residents who live in the area of the permanent location of the new school. This officer has since left to Council to return to education and consideration is ongoing as to how to move forward with this role. 4 Outcome 2: More learners continuing to improve their language skills on transfer from primary to secondary school KEY ANNUAL DATA (where possible, please note if data shows a % increase / decrease since previous reporting period) In 2020, 74 Year 9 learners (4.2% of the cohort) were assessed in Welsh 1st language compared with 71 pupils assessed in Welsh (1st language) three years previously (2017) when they were in Year 6.